Applied Public Relations : Cases in Stakeholder Management

Applied Public Relations: Cases in Stakeholder Management provides readers with the opportunity to observe and analyze how contemporary businesses and organizations interact with key groups and influences. Through the presentation of cases covering a wide variety of industries, locations, and settings, authors Larry F. Lamb and Kathy Brittain McKee examine how real organizations develop and maintain their relationships, offering valuable insights into contemporary business and organizational management practices. The cases included here illustrate both specific public relations campaigns and broader business and organizational practices that have public image or public relations implications. Some detail positive, award-winning practices, while others demonstrate practices that were less successful. The cases enable readers to consider explicit public relations choices as well as to analyze and assess the impact of management decisions on relationships with key stakeholders, whether they were designed, implicit, or even accidental. In addition to the cases, each chapter offers an overview of principles associated with relations with a particular stakeholder group and is supplemented with suggestions for additional readings. Reflection questions are offered to prompt thinking and focus discussion. Throughout the text, guest commentaries from leading practitioners and scholars answer questions about the best practices in contemporary public relations. Lamb and McKee have placed special emphasis on public relations as a strategic management function that must coordinate its planning and activities with several organizational units--human resources, marketing, legal counsel, finance, and operations, among others. A commitment to the ethical practice of public relations underlies the book, and students are challenged not only to assess the effectiveness of the practices outlined, but also to understand the ethical implications of those choices. With its practical orientation and scope, Applied Public Relations is an appropriate and useful text for courses on public relations management, public relations cases and campaigns, and business management or integrated communication management.

Kathy Brittain McKee is a professor of communication at Berry College where she served from 1999-2009 as the associate provost and dean of academic services. She is the co-author of Media Ethics: Cases and Moral Reasoning, which is now in its 8th edition. She serves as editor of Journalism & Communication Monographs. Dr. McKee has published journal articles and book chapters in media ethics, visual imagery, communication pedagogy and student-press regulation.

Larry F. Lamb has held leadership positions in corporate communications at Fortune 500 companies and served pharmaceutical and manufacturing clients of a global strategic communications business. He has taught at public universities in Kansas, North Carolina and the Russian Federation.